Renaissance Painting Research Articles

“A Lot of People Watching”: Understanding the Theater of Terrorism

“In Renaissance religious paintings, angels and saints, lifted by faith, float above the ground,” said Brian Michael Jenkins in 2016. “Similarly, nuclear terrorism, lifted by fear, became gravity free.” Notable because of his position as a leading defense intellectual and respected within U.S. national security circles and internationally, Jenkins was used to speaking to official and public audiences alike about terrorism. His analogy to art in addressing a gathering of security experts was not just a passing rhetorical flourish. It was constitutive of the way Jenkins understood terrorism. By the time he made this comparison to Renaissance painting, Jenkins had spent more than fifty years trying to convince his audiences to see terrorism the way he did—as not just like art but itself a kind of art. In his view, counter-terrorists, in not understanding this, were enabling “media savvy terrorists” to play upon fears that had been “freed of evidence.” But it was worse than that. “Terrorists read what we write and listen to what we say,” said Jenkins. “Then they start talking about it. In turn, we listen to them, completing a feedback loop that confirms our own worst fears.”1 Jenkins wanted counter-terrorism, as in viewing a pointillist painting, to perceive the scene with enough perspective to see more than individual dots, but rather to see the whole. And seeing the whole meant understanding the theater of terrorism.

Gestures in Renaissance Art Depictions and Their Psychological Importance for the Subjects-Taking The Last Supper As An Example

This investigation looks into the gestures and psychology behind Renaissance painting. By looking at the gestures, postures and facial expressions of painted figures in The Last Supper, the author will strive to cast a glimpse into the psychological activities of the characters which in turn will reveal the messages that the painter intended to convey. The author extrapolates psychological theories onto the artwork by Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Supper. The method for investigation will mainly focus on the case study and literature review, through which the author will look into other people’s studies on the subjects of the painting, the use and depiction of gestures during the Renaissance period and other periods. The result of the investigation is that behavioral psychology could be traced back to the Renaissance and the gestures used in artworks such as The Last Supper convey a multi-layers of meanings. For example, Jesus’ tranquility fits into both the dynamic narration of the biblical story and the static rendition (painting) of it. Psychology is indeed something both explanatory and the basis for delivering certain messages in painting as evidenced in the artwork of interest.

The Scientific of Renaissance Artworks - Based on Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci's Work

From the second half of the 14th century to the end of the 16th century, Western and Central European countries witnessed a revolutionary movement in cultural thought, the Renaissance, which was guided by humanism and a human-centred world view. The works of art were transformed by this humanist ideology, and the achievements of science were combined with the use of scientific theories such as perspective, mathematics and anatomy to make their works more relevant to their time. The use of scientific theories underpinned the development of Renaissance painting as a whole. The relationship between Renaissance works and science is explored through an analysis of typical Renaissance works by Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci. This paper will discuss Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci’s work and its connection to science. It will discuss how Dürer used the golden ratio in Adam and Eve and how Dürer linked the human body to geometry to demonstrate his profound study of mathematics in his book The Four Books of Human Proportions. At the same time, this paper will discuss how Leonardo da Vinci applied his study of human proportions and perspective to painting. The study finds that the study of the golden ratio in these works has implications for the creation of today's graphic design students.

Exploring the Scientific Research in Religious Painting Works in Renaissance Period-Taking Durer's Etchings Knight, Death and Devil As an Example

The development of Renaissance painting evolved into the development of humanism and the in-depth study of science and nature under the changes of the times. While getting rid of religious dogma, artists were finally able to look at the world from a rational perspective. Continuous exploration and research not only made Germany open the prelude of modern art, but also stood at the forefront of the historical stage together with other regions of Europe. Among them, the talented artists represented by Durer with the spirit of innovation and exploration raised the original social status of artists to an unprecedented height. The spirit of humanism spread freely in the European continent, and the creation of art nouveau fanaticism, accompanied by the artist's distinct and strong personal artistic color, became the most powerful proof of the attack on dogmatism in painting, and had a profound influence on European modern art. This paper will introduce the transformation of religious art painting during the Renaissance from the scientific direction and it proves that adding scientific innovation to religious painting has brought great influence on later generations.

Spectroscopic and Imaging Analyses on Easel Paintings by Giovanni Santi

The most important painter from Urbino in the last decades of the 15th century (1439 ab.–1494) was Giovanni Santi, the father of Raphael. The lack of scientific literature about Santi’s practice and the possible peculiar role of Urbino in the development of painting techniques in northern Italy suggested in-depth investigations of the entire corpus of his paintings. A well-established sequence of multispectral imaging, spectroscopic and microscopic investigations was performed on 24 wood panel paintings and 2 canvases attributed by most scholars to Giovanni Santi (1439 ab.–1494) to collect a large set of significant data. This systematic research allowed his painting technique to be defined, starting from the type of supports he used and from the features of the underdrawing, which quite frequently included characteristic regular hatching. The pigments used were widely investigated by means of ED-XRF and reflectance spectroscopy (vis-RS); a meaningful multivariate statistical method (PCA and HCA analysis) was also applied to the ED-XRF dataset acquired for representative hues. In particular, the vis-RS technique proved to be a simple and effective diagnostic tool to detect many pigments, including indigo, and to distinguish between two different types of red lakes, avoiding sampling and more complex analyses. Santi used lead white, Fe-Mn-based pigments, vermilion, red lake, natural blue ultramarine, azurite, copper-based green pigments (particularly verdigris), lead-tin yellow, scarcely ever orpiment and, in a few green mixtures, also indigo. Despite the palette being linked to tradition, the master appeared to introduce some peculiarities, such as the addition of glass powder, and mixing pigments both in a traditional way and using them to create chromatic effects unusual for his time. This research confirmed that the systematic use of the integrated non-invasive methods is highly representative, and the results of this wide diagnostic campaign provided a significant dataset which allowed the implementation of a scientific database related to central Italy Renaissance paintings and materials.

Notes on Contributors

Notes on Contributors

Study of ‘Cona degli Ordini’ by Colantonio with IR and XRF Analyses

Two paintings by the Neapolitan Renaissance painter Colantonio were studied with two non-invasive techniques to enrich the technical–scientific documentation. Infrared reflectography (IR) and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses were performed on Saint Jerome in the studio and Saint Francis delivering the Rule, paintings preserved in the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte. The IR scanning was performed to look beyond the visible layers of the paint for the preparatory drawings and pentimenti, or changes made during the painting process. The XRF technique was applied in many points to determine the elemental composition and enable the identification of pigments and materials used in paint and in the preparatory layers. Elemental XRF mapping was also carried out on a region of particular interest. Results provide an initial overview and hypothesis of color palette and techniques used by the artist.

Painting of Ferrara in the second half of the 15th century

The classical style of Early Renaissance painting was defined by Florence, where clear rationality emphasized the values of relief and three-dimensional space with mathematically accurate perspective. Ferrara, among other regional schools in the country, developed its own variant of stylistic expression. It drew upon its interactions with numerous masters who came from different parts of Italy and transalpine lands. As a result, the Renaissance painting of Ferrara, which had taken shape by the second half of the 15th century, exhibited a character that was not only contradictory but also vibrant and marked by significant artistic importance. This article is a logical continuation of the publication “The rise of the Renaissance in Ferrara in the 15th century. All about the city” Academia, 2023, no 1, рр. 24–32.

Anthropology in colors: from icon to Painting

Within the framework of this study, the transformation of anthropomorphic images in Medieval and Renaissance painting is analyzed. The visual art of this period is considered as a specific space of "conversation about man", which existed in parallel with discourses about God-man and Man-god. As a means of communication between man and God, the icon, using anthropomorphism in the image of the archetype, represented to the medieval man a certain path and a guide to his own salvation. Along with individual anthropomorphic and naturalistic features, areal ones were also used in iconography, for example, reverse perspective, halo, "twisting of figures" and a number of others that set the symbolic content of the religious image. В В According to the author, the transformation of the icon into a painting in the XIII-XIV centuries was associated not only with the technical development of fine art (the widespread use of direct perspective, the use of camera obscura and oil paints), but also with significant changes that occurred in the intellectual space of Europe. The narcissistic turn in Renaissance art, expressed in the dissolution of the boundaries between the human and the divine, the maximum naturalization of religious content, as well as in the development of self-portraits, is, first of all, a turn from the discourse about God-man to the discourse about Man-God. Relying on philosophical sources, two independent positions (Ficino and da Vinci) on the nature of metamorphosis and the place of pictorial images in the description and definition of man are considered.

Vladimir Nabokov and Italian Renaissance Painting

Abstract: Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) is widely recognized and highly regarded as a writer of world renown. It is less known that in his childhood and early youth he entertained the idea of becoming a landscape painter. It is still less known that he was also a great connoisseur of art, specifically of Italian Renaissance painting. In this article, I endeavor to showcase Nabokov's enviable familiarity with Italian Renaissance painting through a diverse array of examples taken from his works spanning more than fifty years. In addition, I seek to examine some of the reasons for his employment of these pictorial masterpieces in his literary oeuvre.

Hortus Conclusus—A Mariological Metaphor in Some Renaissance Paintings of the Annunciation in the Light of Medieval Liturgical Hymns

This article seeks to shed light on the doctrinal meanings of the closed garden included in some Renaissance paintings of the Annunciation. To justify the iconographic interpretations that we will give of these paintings, we will base them on the analysis of many medieval liturgical hymns that poetically designate the Virgin Mary through the metaphorical expression hortus conclusus (closed garden) with which the Husband or Bridegroom requisites the Wife or Bride in the Song of Songs. We will divide our article into two parts as a strategy for analysis. First, we will analyze an extensive series of fragments of liturgical hymns that repeatedly praise Mary through this biblical metaphor. In the second part, we will examine some artistic representations of the Annunciation that, in the Italian Renaissance, depict a closed garden in the scene. From this double comparative analysis, textual and iconic, we will conclude that, in direct and essential correlation, those hymnic texts and those paintings clearly illustrate that the hortus conclusus is an eloquent symbol of the virginal divine motherhood of Mary and her perpetual virginity, as well as the excellence and fullness of her supernatural virtues and privileges.

Morgan Di Giovanni, Caroline. Looking at Renaissance Paintings and Other Poems. Thornhill, Ontario: Quattro Books, 2008.

Morgan Di Giovanni, Caroline. Looking at Renaissance Paintings and Other Poems. Thornhill, Ontario: Quattro Books, 2008.

Why did Rubens add a parrot to Titian’s “Fall of Man”? An eye tracking investigation reveals attentional focus while viewing Italian Renaissance paintings

Why did Rubens add a parrot to Titian’s “Fall of Man”? An eye tracking investigation reveals attentional focus while viewing Italian Renaissance paintings

From the Editor’s Gable

From the Editor’s Gable

The Ward Organist

The Ward Organist

The Iconographic Type of the Coronation of the Virgin in the Renaissance Italian Painting in the Light of the Medieval Theology

This article highlights the artistic and conceptual relevance of the iconographic type of the Coronation of Mary in Italy during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modernity. We have analyzed 14 Italian Renaissance paintings, aiming to discover the possible doctrinal sources that inspire them. From a conceptual perspective, we have specified that the iconography of The Coronation of the Virgin in Italy is directly inspired by the comments of some Church Fathers and medieval theologians and hymnographers. From the formal perspective, we discover that three different iconographyc types complement each other as progressively more complex variants of a similar basic structure.

In Memoriam : Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021): It All Started with Ants.

In Memoriam : Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021): It All Started with Ants.

Evaluation of gastronomic objects in Renaissance painting

The Renaissance period, as an enlightenment period after the strict Christian rules of the Middle Ages, represents a period in which many discoveries have been made for about four centuries and which continues its effects in terms of art as well as political, cultural, and scientific developments. Thanks to the Renaissance, the times when artists could only express themselves through church rules were left behind, and sections from routine life began to appear in the paintings. When it comes to daily life, nutrition is the most essential need of human beings, and since then, foods have begun to appear in pictures, and gastronomic objects, which have intertwined with nature since ancient times, have been frequently used in paintings. Simultaneously, artists have become masters of conveying these gastronomic objects, which they use in their paintings, by giving a message in symbols and allegories. Our study aimed to determine the gastronomic objects in Renaissance painting art and to investigate the philosophical meanings of the symbols and their current reflections by examining them, especially in the context of symbolism. The Renaissance paintings were scanned with the document analysis method, and examples containing gastronomic objects were evaluated in a symbolic and allegorical framework with the semiotics method. Our findings indicate that 17 early and high Renaissance painters used 61 gastronomic objects in their paintings, and three Flemish school painters used gastronomic objects in 35 of the collections. Giuseppe Arcimboldo a notable artist of the era shockingly used gastronomic objects and has the mastery of allegory. The painting “Vertumnus“ turns into the magnificence of the Roman empire, and “The Gardener/Vegetables in a Bowl” becomes an allegorical interpretation of the concept of food and fertility represented by God Priapus from two different perspectives. Overall, it has been determined that Renaissance painters used vegetables like artichokes, which look much more aesthetic with their leaves, or lemon, which creates an exotic atmosphere, instead of foods like chicken and eggs, which were the most consumed at that time.

Fictional Narrative and the Other’s Perspective

Anti-cognitivism is best understood as a challenge to explain how works of fictional narrative can add to our worldly knowledge. One way to respond to this challenge is to argue that works of fictional narrative add to our knowledge by inviting us to explore, in the imagination, the perspectives or points of view of others. In the present paper, I distinguish two readings of this thesis that reflect two very different conceptions of “perspective”: a first understanding focuses on what the world looks like from a subjective point of view. Within this framework, we can distinguish approaches that focus on the subjective character of experience from others that explore the nature of subjectivity. I will argue that both strands can be successful only if they acknowledge the de se character of imagining. The second conception understands perspective as a method of representing. To illustrate it, I will look back to the invention of linear perspective in Renaissance painting. I will argue that the definition of perspective as a rule-guided method or technique can shed new light on the thesis that works of narrative fiction are particularly suited to display other perspectives

Taking an exhibition of "mysterious world" works written by women as an example, the art and form of female images in contemporary illustration

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the artistic language and image characteristics of Leonora Carrington, the Muse of the 2022 Venice Biennale, through the analysis of her works in an exhibition of "mysterious world" from women's pen, and then to study the artistic expression forms of women's images in contemporary illustrations. Leonora Carrington is a typical representative of surrealism. In his works, in addition to focusing on the "spiritual automation" of the subconscious and dreams, he also integrates Celtic culture, Renaissance paintings, Central American folk art, medieval alchemy and Jungian psychology. Most of his works focus on the half human and half animal images in the natural environment, and the combination of various wild animals. With the softness of women, they are merged into sacred and bizarre "magic temples". At the same time, it explores the themes of identity and gender, feminism and so on.